Two Apple iPhone 4 units headed to space on final Space Shuttle mission

“A pair of iPhone 4s running an experimental science app are heading for the International Space Station next month, it was just announced at Apple’s WWDC,” Leander Kahney reports for Cult of Mac.

“Two iPhone 4s certified for space travel will be on board Space Shuttle Atlantis, the shuttle fleet’s historic final mission, STS-135,” Kahney reports. “Due to take off from Cape Canaveral on July 8 the iPhone 4s will be running the SpaceLab for iOS app from Odyssey Space Research.”

Kahney reports, “A $0.99 ‘terrestrial’ version of SpaceLab for iOS app
icon is available today from the App Store.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Lava_Head_UK” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]

27 Comments

  1. Sad to see the Shuttle retire, but it’s time. Too bad our country is too damn broke to design a replacement. Although the shuttles were built later, the basic design dates from the early-mid 1970’s- no CAD on the original design. Imagine what kind of Space Plane could be done with today’s technology and tools.

    1. The system is already build and tested at prototype level.
      Space Ship One flew twice within two weeks reaching 65 miles and returning. OK its designed to take tourists to space, but with some design mods, it could take a payload with additional rockets into space for relaunch above the earths atmosphere.

      Falcon series rockets are being tested as a replacement for supply to the space station as we speak. They will be a commercial replacement to the shuttle.

      Still, very sad to see the shuttle go. I remember the first one rolling out of the hanger.

      Just a thought,
      en

  2. There is probably more computing power between those two iPhones than in the entire space shuttle. I seem to remember the shuttle used to use vacuum tubes in their computer systems. I always wondered if anyone noticed the irony of using them in space.

    1. The iPhones have way more ‘computing’ power than the shuttle.

      Unless something changed that I didn’t catch the Shuttle itself uses 5 IBM AP-101S Avionics cpus.

      The whole control software payload is under a megabyte.

      The Int Space Station was using the 80386 and the 80386-SX with a few having the 30387 math co-processor.

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